Tascam Portacapture X8 feature image
Image courtesy: Tascam

Tascam has announced a new handheld digital recorder, the Tascam Portacapture X8. The company claims it designed the new recorder for videographers, musicians, podcasters and other types of content creators.

Tascam Portacapture X8’s sampling rates

With the Tascam Portacapture X8, you can capture high-quality recordings, with sampling rates up to 192 kHz and 32-bit floating-point resolution. The device can record up to eight tracks of audio simultaneously. You can also apply effects such as compression, EQ and reverb.

The Tascam Portacapture X8 features a dual recording mode

In addition, dual recording mode allows you to record each track in a different file format. The Tascam Portacapture X8 records to microSD cards and accepts cards up to 512GB capacity if you use micro SDXC.

Tascam’s Portacapture X8 also supports XLR inputs A74

The Tascam Portacapture X8 has two large diaphragm condenser microphones, which you can easily swap between A-B and X-Y patterns. In addition, there are four individual locking XLR/TRS combo inputs. You can set them to accept either mic-level signals with phantom power or line level signals. You can also connect your camera and headphones to the additional mini jack input and output.

Handy color touchscreen

Tascam Portacapture X8 on tabletop
Image courtesy: Tascam

The Tascam Portacapture X8 has a 3.5-inch color touch screen with an easy-to-use app-style interface for controlling the recorder. This allows you to quickly switch between a range of pre-set configurations to cover different recording situations. For example, there are apps for multi-track recording, podcasts, music, voice and even ASMR. If you choose the Manual app, you can set levels and stereo positions for each of the six input tracks. You can also create a stereo mix ready to be published as a podcast or song.

This recorder is lightweight

Tascam Portacapture X8 in use
Image courtesy: Tascam

In terms of weight, the Tascam Portacapture X8 weighs only 16.6 ounces, including its four AA batteries. You can also power the recorder via USB or a separately available AC power adapter. It has a 1/4-inch-20 socket for attaching to a mic stand. In addition, there is a cold shoe mount if you want to attach it directly to your camera.

There’s also a remote control

With the optional Bluetooth dongle, you can control the Portacapture X8 from a smartphone or tablet. This allows you to access all of the features of the recorder itself.

Pricing and availability

The Tascam Portacapture X8 is available for pre-order at $499. It will ship at the end of December 2021.

Pete Tomkies is a freelance cinematographer and camera operator from Manchester, UK. He also produces and directs short films as Duck66 Films. Pete's latest short Once Bitten... won 15 awards and was selected for 105 film festivals around the world.